Mullen senior Agur Dwol, nation’s top girls triple jumper, breaks state meet record: “She’s probably a future Olympian”

LAKEWOOD — The nation’s best girls high school triple jumper broke the Colorado state meet record Thursday with a leading mark for the entire country this season.

The reaction of Mullen senior Agur Dwol after her 42-foot, 5.5-inch leap for the Class 4A title?

“I don’t really even know,” Dwol said. “I was like: ‘Oh, that’s cool!’”

Don’t be fooled by the humble confidence. Dwol’s incredible jumps speak volumes.

“She’s probably a future Olympian,” Mullen head coach Darius Reed said. “As long as she continues to love the sport and does the sport for the right reasons, she can go very far. I’m  happy to be a part of it.”

Dwol, who is committed to the University of Oklahoma, entered the CHSAA state track and field championships at Jeffco Stadium with the top girls mark nationally this spring (41-11.75). But Dwol wanted more. She jumped 42-0.75 indoors at the Air Force Academy in January competing for Mile High Track Club and sought to exceed that distance at an outdoor high school meet.

It’s an ambitious goal that is more impressive when you consider her track and field history. Dwol’s introduction to the triple jump was only four years ago as a Mullen freshman. The only sport she played before that was volleyball.

“I really wanted to be a sprinter at first,” Dwol said. “Then coaches were like: ‘We’re going to put you in jumps.’ So, I jumped, and I guess I was pretty decent at it.”

No kidding. Dwol blossomed into the 2019 4A state triple jump champion as a freshman and likely would have repeated in 2020 if not for a global pandemic that led to a cancellation of the state meet. Last year, Dwol swept the state’s long jump and triple jump titles with the top marks across all classifications.

Her jumps are the product of natural ability and tireless dedication to improvement. Dwol pointed to one specific workout, with a steep elevation gain, which helps separate her from peers in the sport.

“Bounding up Ruby Hill. That’s the one that got me,” Dwol said. “A lot of the triple jump is hard. It kills your legs, for one. It’s easy to improve in it, but once you’ve improved in it so much, it’s so hard to hold each phase.”

Reed, Mullen’s first-year head coach, was a Mustangs assistant jumps coach in Dwol’s freshman year. Reed and the staff have pushed Dwol to maximize her athletic gifts ever since. It all culminated on Thursday with her best triple jump yet.

“She’s a once-in-a-lifetime talent,” Reed said. “Besides the physical, her mental preparation rolling into a track meet is probably some of the best I’ve ever seen. She’s head and shoulders above what most coaches would expect.

“It’s her ability to maintain her jumps. … To have a first phase and a second phase and a third phase that cop-out to about equal. Not losing distance between phases. That’s really what has set her apart. We still have a little bit of room to improve. But where she is — as a coach — it’s unchartered territory.”

Dwol, a heavy favorite to defend her 4A long jump title on Friday, will cap her prep career next month at Nike Outdoor Nationals in Eugene, Ore.

“Even if I do have the best mark going in,” Dwol said, “I’m still going to be super-duper nervous about it.”

Dwol is doing her best to live in the moment, smiling alongside Mullen teammates at Jeffco Stadium. She has so much more to accomplish.

“I’m going to see where my feet can take me,” Dwol said.

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